Ohio State sees BCS door open again

Friday

Nov 8, 2013 at 8:36 PM

With Oregon's loss to Stanford, Ohio State was given new life in its quest for a BCS Championship game berth.

By Todd PorterCantonRep.com staff writer

As rain fell from the sky and Ohio State was finishing a water logged practice outside, head coach Urban Meyer explained to his team what they needed to do to make room for themselves in the BCS ark. Win games.

And win those games big.

“It’s a four-horse race right now,” offensive lineman Corey Linsley said Wednesday. “We have to do everything in our power to not let someone from behind jump us (in the polls). It’s no longer a case of us playing our best game. We have to have somebody else not play their best.”

And down goes Oregon.

The third-ranked Ducks lost to Stanford on Thursday night. It’s the kind of loss that will shake up the top five rankings and likely move Ohio State to No. 3 during the Buckeyes’ second, and final, bye week.

College coaches will start politicking for their teams to play in the BCS Championship Game in the final weeks of the season.

Alabama still is the best team in the country unless someone upsets the Crimson Tide. No. 2 Florida State would have to suffer a colossal upset against overmatched opponents from now until the end of the season.

Now the Buckeyes become fans of whoever is playing Alabama.

“It’s awful,” Meyer said of selling his team, that hasn’t lost a game since he took over, to the rest of the country. “But I work for my players. At the end of the day, I’m working for the families of our coaching staff, and the families of our players. That’s who we work for.”

Before the season, Meyer motivated his players with “The Chase,” because every player on the team, every coach and the team itself are chasing something. Right now, the Buckeyes are chasing Pasadena, Calif.

They will finish the season at Illinois, vs. Indiana and then at Michigan. Ohio State should be decided favorites in all three games. If the Buckeyes win their next two games, they will have clinched a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game in Indianapolis during a college football weekend that could see a great deal of movement among the top teams.

Meyer watched Thursday night’s games and went to bed in a better place without his team playing this week because of Oregon’s loss.

“I’ve been there before a couple of times when things had to happen right for us,” Meyer said. “But for us to waste energy on that is not fair to the players.”

His players took to Twitter after the game.

“RIP Oregon,” from Bradley Roby.

“Bye bye Ducks,” from Joey Bosa.

And from Michael Bennett, “Are they really saying Stanford is in the national championship race? I appreciate them beating Oregon but come on now.”

Stanford’s albatross is a loss to Utah.

The Buckeyes have been reluctant to look at the big picture and choose to live in the moment, like their head coach.

It’s the same approach taken around the country. Even Stanford isn’t getting too giddy after its upset.

“For us, it doesn’t do anything,” Stanford head coach David Shaw said after his team’s win Thursday night. “It’s everybody else. The smart team, the good teams only worry about their next game. Let the people talk. ... Let everybody else talk and do whatever they want. For us, we get to play football.”

Unlike top-ranked Alabama, Ohio State doesn’t have any ranked teams left on its schedule. ‘Bama has No. 13 LSU tonight and will finish the season at No. 9 Auburn.

All Ohio State can do is score points, and lots of them.

“That’s the reality of the situation,” Linsley said. “Call it unsportsmanlike, call it what you want. I was researching the BCS ... they take into account the amount of points you’re supposed to win by and the amount of points you do win by. So call it what you want. We’re trying to accomplish something no one else in our conference can right now.”

Scoring points against Illinois, Indiana and Michigan should not be a problem. Ohio State is coming off consecutive games in which the offense has gained more than 600 yards and scored more than 55 points. OSU’s three remaining opponents are all giving up at least 28 points a game.

Meyer got a chance to measure his team, which he compared to his 2006 Florida national championship team, while watching Oregon, Stanford and Baylor on Thursday.

“I’ve done that with our staff before. Is so-and-so better coached than we are? Does so-and-so have better players than we do?” Meyer said. “Then the answer is why. This is Ohio State. Our expectations are the best in the country. Obviously we’re not there yet or we would be the best in the country.”

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